Cross references are entered inline within the main scripture body text. The boundaries of the cross reference text are defined by an opening and closing marker. The individual elements which make up the cross reference content are described under the heading Cross Reference Content Elements below.

The cross reference caller, which may be one of the following three types:

+ – indicates that the caller should be generated automatically by the translation editor, or publishing tools. - – indicates that no caller should be generated, and is not used. ? – where ? represents the character to be used for the caller. The caller is defined for the specific cross reference by the author.

Cross reference origin reference.
This is the chapter and verse(s) that target reference(s) are being provided for. SEP indicates where the appropriate chapter/verse separator should be used (i.e. colon “:”, full stop “.” etc.)

Target reference(s).
A list of scripture references, commonly provided as book name abbreviations plus chapter and verse, or range of verses. The punctuation used between chapter and verse, reference ranges, and between target references can differ significantly across texts.

\p
\v 22 But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of
Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went
to the province of Galilee
\v 23 \x - \xo 2.23: \xt Mrk 1.24; Luk 2.39; Jhn 1.45.\x* and made his home in a town
named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a
Nazarene.”

Unambiguously identifies the scripture target reference using a standard scripture reference format. (default)
Book names must be one a standard book identifier. Chapter verse separator is always a colon :. A string of pattern [A-Z1-4]{3}?[a-z0-9\-,:]*

In some scenarios a target reference is written in a format which cannot be accurately parsed and identified. Providing the link-href attribute allows greater flexibility in the use of \xt...\xt*.

In this context, link-href should only target scripture references for the current text (i.e. references to other project texts or non-scripture URIs are not allowed)

When adding link-href, the explicit attribute name is not required since it is defined in USFM as the default for \xt...\xt*.

A number (7) alone marked with \xt...\xt* is ambiguous, since it could refer to chapter 7 or verse 7 (in Paratext, a number alone is interpreted as a chapter reference). Extending \xt...\xt* with the link-ref attribute makes it possible to express the target reference unambiguously.

\c 3
\s1 The Preaching of John the Baptist\x - \xo 3.0 \xta Compare with \xt Mk 1.1-8;
Lk 3.1-18; \xta and \xt Jn 1.19-28 \xta parallel passages.\x*
\p
\v 1 At that time John the Baptist came to the desert of Judea and started preaching.

Published cross reference origin text.
In some texts, the content intended to be published in the position of the cross reference origin text \xo does not follow the typical <chapter><separator><verse> pattern. An origin reference following this pattern is required for validation of the cross reference location. \xop...\xop* can be used in order to supply the content intended for publishing, similar to the use of \cp and vp …vp*.

\p
\v 51-52 \x - \xo 15.51,52: \xdc 2Es 6.23; \xt 1Th 4.15-17.\x* Listen to this secret
truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed
in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the
dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.